| − | '''Collectivism''' is the belief that an imagined [[welfare]] of a group takes precedence over individual [[unalienable rights|rights]] and [[values]]. Collectivism is thus an example of the liberal fallacy of [[reification]]. Economic collectivism is generally preferred by [[liberals]]. [[Libertarians]] often embrace [[individualism]], generally accepted as the opposite of collectivism. | + | '''Collectivism''' is the belief that an imagined [[welfare]] of a group takes precedence over individual [[unalienable rights|rights]] and [[values]]. Collectivism is thus an example of the liberal fallacy of [[reification]]. Economic collectivism, or income redistribution, is generally preferred by [[liberals]]. [[Libertarians]] often embrace [[individualism]], generally accepted as the opposite of collectivism. |
| | Collectivism thus is not to be confused with the fact that individual [[liberty]] allows, and love of others often enjoins, collective action. In other words, 1) civil society, beginning with the civil family, is not, by definition, [[parallel play]], but, rather, is a more-or-less informally coordinated balancing of complementary, and sometimes even conflicting, needs; whereas 2) collectivism is a consistent subsuming of the natural and civil rights of the individual, and thus of the family, to an unintelligently inflexible mere abstraction of those very rights. | | Collectivism thus is not to be confused with the fact that individual [[liberty]] allows, and love of others often enjoins, collective action. In other words, 1) civil society, beginning with the civil family, is not, by definition, [[parallel play]], but, rather, is a more-or-less informally coordinated balancing of complementary, and sometimes even conflicting, needs; whereas 2) collectivism is a consistent subsuming of the natural and civil rights of the individual, and thus of the family, to an unintelligently inflexible mere abstraction of those very rights. |